Home Sweet Home

It goes without saying that we looooove the beach and we’d pretty much live anywhere (a shack or hut will do!) as long as there was a water view and sand to sink our toes in. And we’d be even more delighted if this house happened to be on Nantucket and designed by Markham Roberts!

Botanical Beauty

Kitchen Oasis

While the rough shores of this Massachusetts island are known more for their dunes and grasses, a garden of flowering blooms is brought indoors with the prevalent use of botanical fabrics and artwork.

Floral Fun

Sitting Pretty

Don’t let the wood walls and chalky painted finishes fool you – this house was newly built by the owner after she realized that the older home she purchased was not perfect. To get that lived-in look, she delivered a lifetime of belongings complemented by fabulous auction finds into Roberts’ eager hands and together they created a warm and welcoming home.

Marsh Bound

Needless to say, our inspiration board is now covered with images from this project in hopes that some day we’ll have a home on the beach to call our own!

What’s the best cure for a snowstorm on the first day of spring? A 1860’s farmhouse infused with pale pinks, blues, celadons and corals decorated by Brittany Bromley and shot by our friend, Jane Beiles.

Pretty Parlor

Sit A While

Everything about this home is fresh and springlike, from Sandberg‘s pastel tree wallpaper in the parlor and dining room to the Robert Kime floral fabric on the armchairs in the living room and the Lars Bolander light fixtures in the kitchen. Large windows throughout the house let the light in and the bright spaces glow with warmth.

Lux Lighting

Beautiful Bedroom

The beautiful palette flows from room to room creating a sense of calm, casual elegance – a perfect retreat from the couple’s busy city life.

Gorgeous Garden

And let’s not forget the garden where a trestle pedestal table and chairs sit among the flowerbeds in the sunken garden. At some point the snow will melt and we’ll be seeing signs of spring…

It’s really hard to say goodbye to Madrid once you’ve lived for almost four years so when it came time to move out of the US embassy’s official residence, Ambassador James Costos and his partner, interior designer Michael Smith, decided to relocate their possessions to an elegant apartment in the city’s Barrio Salamanca.

Living Room

Dining Room

Michael took on the task of redecorating the stately home by reshuffling the couple’s art and antiques, and he said seeing pedigreed pieces in a new, more relaxed context, was both illuminating and fun. An 18th century Coromandel screen takes on new life as the centerpiece in the living room, while the Chinese painted panels in the dining room once graced the walls of a guest bedroom in the former residence. Talk about recycling!

Peonies and Alberto Pinto China

The couple is still buying art for their new home and it’s decidedly more Spanish in provenance – works from disciples of Goya grace the walls of the library while a banner embroidered with the crest of a noble Spanish family hangs over the headboard in the master bedroom.

Master Bedroom

Guest Bedroom

It’s hard not to love the bright and comfortable aura that is created by the use of colors and patterns and of course, flowers! We just wonder if our flowers (seen here!) made the move… ¡Que tengas un buen fin de semana!

For many, Memorial Day is the unofficial first day of summer so why not kick off the season with some coastal chic brought to you by the ever fabulous Beth Webb. This beachfront retreat on Costa Rica’s Guanacaste Peninsula strikes the perfect balance of family friendly style and gracious living.

Living Room with Layers

Cool and Collected Kitchen

If we had our way, we’d spend the entire summer in a home decorated with nautical blues and easy, breezy whites and this house ticks all the boxes. We especially love the addition of textured layers from woven chairs and rugs and the local vibe created by handcrafted accessories.

Master Bedroom with A View

Room for All

Since spending time outdoors is so important to us, we’d make full use of the beautiful pool and cabana!

Pool Cabana Living

Can you just imagine many lazy days with glasses of rosé… Happy Friday, all!

“You can’t judge a book by its cover” our mother often told us when we were young… and when we saw Jane Beiles’ home for the first time last winter, we couldn’t help but be reminded of this. What seems like an antique 1916 home on the outside is definitely not traditional on the inside. Small, closed off rooms were transformed into light-filled open spaces by architect Louise Brooks and RR Builders, and filled with chic but comfortable modern furnishings by Melissa Lindsay of Pimlico Interiors. The house was the perfect mix of old meets new and we were instantly charmed.

Family Room

Entry and Dining Room

Kitchen and Mudroom

So it’s no surprise that we are super excited to see Jane’s wonderful home featured in the April issue of HGTV Magazine (and not only because our very own fiddle leaf fig tree makes an appearance on page 110!) Jane’s sunny personality shines through in the bright and happy interiors captured by photographer Alexandra Rowley and from the moment you enter the front door, you can’t help but feel at home.

Master Bedroom

Back Porch

While every room is a delight, we fell hard for the back porch which was decked out with winter greens and Christmas lights when we visited; we can only imagine how sweet it would be to spend a summer’s eve entertaining friends there. Perhaps Jane will indulge our fantasies by throwing another party this spring!

What better way to cope with ten inches of newly fallen snow on the ground than to think about making plans for summer! We have friends who have just renovated a lake house in Canada so we’re hoping we’ll get an invitation this year. Whiling away a summer’s day in a hammock on the shore would be right up our alley. In the meantime, we came across this fabulous home in the Muskoka Lakes region which has us dreaming of warmer days ahead.

A Multicolor Space

A Fun Family Room

Designed by once-Connecticut resident Ann Hepfer, this cheerful summer home is filled with pops of color and comfortable spaces… and some unexpected accents like a hot pink JuJu headdress and a chandelier made of porcupine quills.

A Divine Dining Room

A Marvelous Master Bedroom

Ann describes the home’s aesthetic as “preppy boho” where layers and textures abound. Vintage wicker furniture gets a modern touch with ikat and geometric patterns while the unexpected palette of brights hues creates a sense of fun and whimsy.

A Perfect Porch

The entire home is designed to bring the outdoors in with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the serene lake, and a screened-in porch for watching the sunset. They say summer months are short in Canada but in a home like this one, the memories would last throughout the year. Happy Friday!

250 days until summer but who’s counting? We are… kind of. Loyal readers of this little blog know that as the temps get cooler and the days shorter, we start to get blue. Even as we’re surrounded by fall fabulousness (the pumpkin lattes, the cable knit sweaters, the turning leaves), we still look forward to easy, breezy summer days.

Divine Dining

So when we come across homes like these, we have to share. Created to be enjoyed by family and friends, this waterfront property on Shelter Island decorated by Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller of Carrier and Company exudes laid back chic and is beautifully captured by the lens of Zach DeSart.

Fab Family Room

Shades of blue abound (and you know we love blue) whether they’re in large statement pieces like the handblown bubble chandelier by Liza Sherman Studio in the dining room or smaller accents like our blue hydrangea bouquet (yes, ours!) in the living room.

Cozy Kitchen

The subway tile by Waterworks in the kitchen is a heavenly shade of sky blue…

Beautiful Bath

and there’s a Robert Hogan painting in turquoise hues over the freestanding tub in the master bath.

Beautiful Bedroom

So as not to detract from the water views seen from the bed, the master bedroom has light touches of gray blue in the quilt, shams and walls to complement the floor-to-ceiling Christopher Martin painting.

Wishing you all a happy (not blue!) weekend and may you all enjoy the colors of fall.

Since one of us is headed to the Hamptons today, we thought we’d profile this beautiful waterfront home on Peconic Bay designed by John David Rose and Jon Bjørnen. Owned by top real estate broker Tim Davis, the house was built in the early 2000’s and has been updated over the years to make it more gracious and stately yet still family friendly. Off the front hall is a lovely living room whose neutral palette is offset by Friedel Dzubas‘ colorful abstract painting prominently displayed over the fireplace.

We love the Provençal-style kitchen and especially the French doors which we can only assume opens up to a sloping lawn and a fabulous pool.

Delightful Dining

The lovely master suite has his and her baths, and her bath is to die for. Don’t you just want to pour yourself a glass of champagne and soak in that tub!

Masterful

Sip and Soak

With its panoramic views (imagine the sunsets!) and vast stone terrace, this home is perfect for outdoor entertaining. Now all we need is an invitation… hint, hint. Happy Friday all and enjoy this last weekend of July. Where is the summer going??

TGIF! Not only are we toasting the end of a busy work week, but we’re also celebrating the fact that we’ve made our deposits for our sons’ college registrations. One of our seniors is heading to Massachusetts while the other to sunny California. Which got us thinking about a West Coast office for Diane James Home. We could easily become bi-coastal, especially if we could call La Jolla home. And this stunning beachfront contemporary has our name all over it…

Open Spaces

From the terraced pool with connecting bridge, to the open floor plan where one can glimpse at the custom back-painted plate glass backsplash and the Studio Italia Design pendant fixture…

Outdoor Views

this home beautifully marries the indoors with it’s natural setting overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Sweet Master Suite

Once the word gets out that we have a West Coast pad, we’ll need more than just a master bedroom to accommodate guests…

Bright Balcony

unless we put them in our home office, which has a balcony with a view, of course!

Floating Fire

And after a hard day’s work, we can all gather around the floating fire pit and be grateful that one of our boys chose to go to UCSD. Let us know if you have any San Diego hot spots to share since we’ll be visiting often.

The Fall Tabletop Show is just weeks away so we’re madly working at completing our new Spring/Summer 2016 collection while our designers are busy elves putting the finishing touches on 52 wreaths for Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. If there really is such thing as seasonal adjustment disorder, we have it! So we’re taking today to escape to more a exotic place, like this gorgeous apartment in Manila. The reason this home caught our eye is that it embodies the trend that inspired our new designs – a twist on tradition (and that’s in fact what the new collection will be called when it’s launched early next year!)

Glam to the Max

Simply Divine Dining

Blue Carreon has achieved the impossible by taking a modern blank box of a condo and creating a sense of history by adding crown molding, hand painted murals and blue and white porcelains. Mixing traditional furnishings with pieces from his own collection (like that stunning stone and brass coffee table in the living room or the shell and brass table in the dining room), Blue seamlessly combines the old with the new to create glamorous rooms that feel quite au courant.

Where the Magic Happens

“A space succeeds when it’s a collection of things you love and the layers of stories behind them,” says this designer and we couldn’t agree more! Blue’s office is filled with personal objects while a set of closet doors serves as mood boards…

Sensational Styling

Still Life

and his shelves are so artfully styled one could paint a still life from them! What a wonderful way to end the work week, don’t you think? Happy weekend!